Improvement of Inpatient Psychiatric Facility Quality Reporting program measure: Screening for metabolic disorders...

Second-generation antipsychotics are associated with lower risks of extrapyramidal symptoms, including tardive dyskinesia. However, many second-generation antipsychotics are associated with metabolic adverse effects, including weight gain, impaired blood glucose control, and hyperlipidemia. Metabolic monitoring for patients prescribed antipsychotic medication is 1 of several measures of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Inpatient Psychiatric Facility Quality Reporting program. Screening for metabolic disorders (SMD) must be obtained within the previous 365 days before the hospital discharge date. National data suggest that compliance with this measure is low.

To improve compliance of metabolic monitoring by 20% while ensuring that the quality improvement interventions did not cause any unintended adverse effects on other aspects of our system.

This quality initiative was conducted at a large, 2000-bed academic medical center with approximately 80 inpatient psychiatric beds.

To improve the metabolic screening rates, a pharmacist collaborative practice agreement (CPA) was established as part of a quality improvement project. Previously, there were no formal processes at the institution to ensure that appropriate laboratory tests were conducted.

Using an uncontrolled before-and-after design, SMD data were gathered from 6 months before and 6 months after CPA implementation. Pearson chi-square test or Fisher exact test were used to compare the pre- and postintervention groups in this quasi-experimental design.

Compared with the preintervention period, compliance of SMD monitoring increased by 21.2% in the postintervention phase-from 69.2% to 90.4% (P < 0.001).

The empowerment of clinical pharmacists with a CPA significantly improved guideline-concordant metabolic monitoring of antipsychotics. These findings may have significant impact on the approach to the safe use of these essential psychotropic medications and provide a framework for other inpatient mental health facilities to optimally use the skills of their interdisciplinary team.